Florida Is Home to the Second-Most Mass Layoffs in the Nation -- Again

For the second month in a row, Florida had more mass layoffs than every other state but California, according to statistics released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the numbers from the BLS, Florida accounted for 78 of the nation's 961 mass layoffs in August and 147 of the 2,176 layoffs nationwide in July.

Florida's mass layoffs -- which count as one employer laying off at least 50 workers -- was also the third-highest in the country in June and again the second-highest in the nation in May, according to the BLS.

Among the eight states and the District of Columbia in the South Atlantic census division, Florida accounted for nearly 45 percent of all mass layoffs.

The state's jobs agency was happy to report last week that there was an increase of 10,000 jobs last month, conveniently leaving out the change in the labor force -- which kept Florida's unemployment rate at 10.7 percent for the third month straight, well above the national rate of 9.1 percent.

That leaves 987,000 people without a job in the labor force of 9,201,000 people from the August stats.

The number of initial claimants for unemployment dropped from 12,098 in July to 5,176 in August, which is still the seventh-highest in the nation.

The BLS didn't separate the mass layoffs per industry by state, but nationally, the manufacturing sector led the nation in the most mass layoffs, accounting for 24 percent.

Other industries with the most nationwide layoffs include administrative and waste services (17 percent) and retail trade (8 percent).

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